Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The History of Boston
The History of Boston Transformation and modernization in Boston from 1950 to 1970 Boston is one of the cities of the world with fascinating history. Its foundation was laid in 1630 followed by a series of events, which led to developing the city into what it is today. Bostonians were determined to develop the city by erecting structures around a port.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The History of Boston specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As the area grew, more needs emerged, evoking the need for industries for the manufacture of consumables and other products. This essay analyses the transformation and modernization in Boston from 1950 to 1970. By the year 1950, the city began experiencing a wide range of transformations. There were countable major buildings that were erected in the city. Importantly, most of manufacturing industries found it hard to operate in the city because of high cost of production. As a result, a number of them clo sed their operations and shifted to the southern side of the city, where labor was believed to be affordable. During this time, Boston had several assets including but not limited to hospitals, banks and learning institutions (OConner 37). Politicians moved in to prevent continuous migration of people and relocation of manufacturing industries to the south by implementing urban renewal policies. The enactment of these regulations led to the elimination of neighborhoods like Scollay Square and the Old West End, which were dominantly occupied by Jews and Italians. These neighborhoods were replaced with the Massachusetts General Hospital, Charles River Park and the Government Center. These policies contributed to the displacement of thousands people, disrupted business and triggered angry reactions (OConner 288). By the year 1963, Boston had 536,986 jobs, while suburban regions registered higher growth for employment opportunities. It was evident that much of the economic growth of the city was occurring in non-urban regions due to affordable land and accessibility of this ring, enhanced by the Interstate Highway connection (OConner 79).Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Easy highway access further made the manufacturing and distribution of goods to be cheaper and convenient as compared to the use of port and railway services. As a result, Boston became more boring, with people finding a lot of comfort in the outskirts of the city. The city was also transformed by the kind of buildings, which were designed and constructed for commercial use. For instance, the construction of the Prudential Tower was initiated in 1960 (OConner 227). The building made world history upon its completion. It emerged to be the tallest building in the world, with an exclusion of New York City skyscrapers. This bred rival that led to the construction of John Hancock Tower that was co mpleted in 1975. It surpassed the Prudential Tower by 240m to emerge as the tallest building in the city to-date. The city also advanced in terms of education. The year 1964 saw the establishment of the University of Massachusetts Boston, with classes being launched in September of 1965. An opening convocation for the institution was conducted in December 1966 in Boston. However, the University of Massachusetts Boston joined forces with Boston State College in 1982. In addition, the city advanced the establishment of Phoenix Publishers, which was founded by Hanlon Joe in 1965. This turned out to be a boost in the cityââ¬â¢s publication sector. In 1970, Boston opened the Giant Ocean Tank in 1970 as the largest tank of its nature in the world. Importantly, the modernization and transformation of Boston has remained a continuous process. Boston in the 1960s In 1960s Boston continued to experience transformation and development in various ways. Economical, social and political factor s played a major role during this period. In 1960, the State Legislature expanded Chapter 121A to allow tax breaks on development projects, a move that encouraged development, as the city shared the financial risks on the projects.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The History of Boston specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Importantly, this law was first applied during the construction of the famous Prudential Center (OConner 178). Together with other office buildings, the city was able to pull jobs and services, which became the backbone of the cityââ¬â¢s economy. The name of John Frederick Collins is also common in Bostonââ¬â¢s 1960s history, who served as the mayor of Massachusetts for eight years, starting in 1960 (OConner 210). During 1959 mayoral elections, he was viewed by analysts as an underdog. After exiting active politics in 1968, Collins held several professorship roles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for thirteen years. In 1961, Boston witnessed the opening of the Callahan tunnel. It is said that the tunnel was named in memory of William Callahanââ¬â¢s son, who was killed before end of WWII. In 1962, the Scollay Square was named in honor of William Scollay, who was a militia officer and developer in 1795. Similarly, 1962 saw the rise of the Boston Strangler, who was responsible for several murders of single women in Massachusetts in 1960s. Even though Albert De Salvo was convicted for most of the murders, investigative findings indicated that crimes might have been committed by a gang and not an individual criminal achievement. In a span of less than a year starting 1962, the Boston Area registered thirteen murders of women who had been sexually assaulted and strangled with stockings (Lambert 1). Due to lack of evidence, it was always assumed that those who committed the crimes were familiar to the victims since there was no sign of forceful entry into the apartme nts. This became a major security threat, forcing a large number of women to relocate to other residential areas.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In 1964, the city was also transformed by the kind of buildings, which were designed and constructed for commercial use. The construction of the Prudential Tower was initiated in 1960 (OConner 227). The building made world history upon its completion. It emerged to be the tallest building in the world, with an exclusion of New York City skyscrapers. This bred rival that led to the construction of John Hancock Tower that was completed in 1975. It surpassed the Prudential Tower by 240m to emerge as the tallest building in the city to-date. Additionally, the history of Boston in 1960s cannot be complete without the mention of the strides the city made in advancing the education sector. The year 1964 saw the establishment of the University of Massachusetts Boston. An opening convocation for the institution was conducted in December 1966 in Boston. However, University of Massachusetts Boston joined forces with Boston State College in 1982. In addition, the city advanced through the estab lishment of Phoenix Publishers, which was founded by Hanlon Joe in 1965. In 1968, Kelvin White was elected as the mayor of Boston, a post he held for sixteen years. The 1960s history of Boston ended with the construction of the Boston City Hall and the New England Aquarium in 1969 (Lambert 1). Busing Crisis in Bolton from 1974 to 1988 This was a period of protests in Boston after the endorsement of the 1965 Racial Imbalance Act, which banned racial segregation in schools. According to the actââ¬â¢s implementation plan, students from ââ¬Å"whiteâ⬠regions were to be bused to public schools predominated by black students and vice versa. This declaration triggered fury among white people in Boston, leading to intensive riots across the country as people expressed their dissatisfaction with the courtââ¬â¢s ruling. These riots caused a lot of trouble as public disturbance dominated. As a result, the act led to a significant demographic change in Boston as most white people en rolled their children in private schools, which were exempted from the law (Hornburger 235). It is important to note that the ruling by Judge Garrity in 1974 came after a recurrence of cases of segregation in public schools. This became rampant despite the fact that segregation was unconstitutional. It gave the judge a chance to develop a plan for the implementation of the Racial Imbalance Act, which had been developed before by the State Legislature. The law required all public schools to balance the enrollment of students according to racial identity to prevent the domineering of a single race in some schools (Hornburger 235). Despite the adoption of the rule, most Boston School Committees ignored it and acted contrary to the provisions of the regulations. The plan to ferry students from different areas for the purpose of racial balance was therefore considered as the only way to implement the act. By the end of his tenure, Judge Garrity made history, for introducing a famous and influential education system in the history of the United States. The conflict which erupted, mainly affected learning programs in Irish-American neighborhoods of South Boston, West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Dorchester, Roslindale and Charlestown. Additionally, the Italian-American neighborhood was also affected, with the North End region suffering most. During this time, schools that were far from Boston were not adversely hit as those bordering the city. This was mainly because of the presence of very small minority groups of people (Hornburger 236). Amazingly, part of the Judgeââ¬â¢s ruling was to bus a whole junior class from South Boston School to a black, Roxbury High School. Additionally, half of the freshmen were to attend the other school, while senior students were allowed to make a choice and attend a school of their preference. It is important to note that the implementation of the act was met with low turn-up of students as parents continuously protested on a daily basis, leading to the cancellation of a football season. Consequently, black and white students began using different bus doors as anti-busing pressure mounted. Opponents of the implementation plan argued that the idea was meant to affect the poor. For instance, they mentioned that the architects of the bill had not been affected as their children remained in white schools. Moreover, many schools registered low attendance as it was believed that some parents transferred their students to regions that were not affected by the law. Violence became severe as opposing groups attacked each other. Nevertheless, South Boston High School was the most hit with the violence, forcing it close down for some time, introduced metal detectors and hired five hundred police officers against four hundred students who reported back after the closure (Hornburger 236). Hornburger, Jane. ââ¬Å"Deep are the Roots: Busing in Boston.â⬠The Journal of Negro Education 45. 3 (1976): 235-245. Print. Lambert, Ti m. A Brief History of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Local Histories, 2012. Web. OConner, Thomas. Building a New Boston: Politics and Urban Renewal 1950 to 1970. New Hampshire: UPNE, 1995. Print.
Saturday, November 23, 2019
19 Eye-Catching Graphic Design Trends for 2018
19 Eye-Catching Graphic Design Trends for 2018 Graphic design seems to be a skillset that will never go out of demand and is increasingly becoming a learnable field by the technically untrained designer. From small business owners to authors, more and more entrepreneurs are turning to graphic design as a way of learning a new skill for their personal edification, or to save costs in their business. Here are 19 trends that were huge this year, and show no signs of stopping going into 2019:Creative typographyWhen it comes to branding or titling, one of the first things to meet the eye is the message. What is a brand, a title, or an advertisement saying? This year, graphic designers took this to a new level by getting creative with typography and fonts. Some trends showed creative effects, like pouring paint over letters, words that look like bent silverware, dual color schemes, and more. Additionally, cropped typography, where certain parts of letters are erased but the word remains readable and clear, remained popular. Book covers seemed to favor chaotic typography, where letters were misaligned or manipulated into arcs or curves or other strange shapes.Negative spaceThis is a popular trend that shows no signs of slowing down. Simply, an empty space in a design that forms a certain shape is considered a negative space design. Designs of a wide variety utilize this popular graphic design technique, as its versatile, endlessly creative, and frankly, super cool to look at. Along with negative space designs, an emerging and increasingly popular trend is negative space typography. Reference the covers for A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald or Mamita by Inez van Oort and Mirjam Bleeker.Double exposureWhats better than one awesome image? How about two? Double exposure is not a new technique in photography, film, or graphic design, but has ebbed and flowed in popularity over the years. Luckily, its flowing again, and designers are creating ultra-cool images using this technique, which is simply combining two exposures of a n image or images, and creating a single image from them. Check out this example.DuotoneAn easy way to brush up a photo or logo is the relatively simple technique of duotone, where the image has just two predominant colors. A red or blue color is overlaid on a grayscale image to produce this effect.Double exposure duotoneCombining the two aforementioned techniques into one produces an uber-modern, futuristic effect. Two images, either the same one doubled or two different images are layered in monochrome colors. The resulting effects are striking, especially when combined with one of the typography trends mentioned above. The poster for the film Flatliners makes excellent use of this.Double lightIn the same vein as double the pleasure, double the fun, double light has been trending heavily. Color channels are split around a single image and layered together to create a modern, trendy, retro feel to a photo. This lends itself well to fashion. Band photos are known to make use of this technique, also. With the right color scheme, it works well to create an interesting sci-fi feel to an image, too.Glitch effectDo you remember back in the day when TV sets (yeah, sets) had little antennas on them, and when they got disturbed or so much as one drop of rain fell from the sky, the picture would go glitchy and weird? That has translated into some of the most interesting graphic design effects on this trends list. With the advent of digital images, this effect is no longer an annoyance, but something that can create a truly interesting piece of art.Ruined effectAnother effect that creates a disturbance in an image is the ruined effect. This particular technique creates some of the most interesting and unique images you can find today. Splashing, tearing, slashing, breaking, layering- its all fair game with this technique. And if you can layer in different textures, colors, and patterns, even better. Photos can look like cut-out collages of the nineties. You remember you r dream board, dont you?One-color 3D designWhat good is design technology without making use of 3D effects? The one-color 3D design technique uses the same color as the featured image in the background. Sounds plain, but it actually helps enhance the featured image and makes it pop. Dimension, shadow, and texture all help to create the separation of the image from the background, and done masterfully, creates a pleasing, eye-catching image that works well with advertisement.Colorful 3D substanceOne of the top crazes in the graphic design field is combining bright colors and textures in a 3D environment. Images take on new dimension, texture, and shape in unique and utterly beautiful ways. This technique lends itself well to just about any feasible concept- movie posters, book covers, science imagery, food, and especially art.Digital handworkThis seems like a step backward as far as design advancements go, but combining digital graphic design technology is actually an on-the-rise tre nd. Where Photoshop paintbrushes once took center stage, hand drawings can now be converted to a digital space, where unique effects- such as the ones on this list- can be added for extra artistic enhancements.Illustrations and digital drawingSpecifically, layering an illustration over or under an image. Remember that 1980s music video Take On Me by A-Ha, where the animated guy followed the real woman? Back then, everyones minds were blown at the combination of the real and the animated, but now, the two worlds are meeting more often than ever, and in far more lush colors and settings than just black and white.Bright color gradientColor gradients arent necessarily anything new, but they remain a popular technique used widely in graphic design. Depending on the color scheme, different moods can be created- dark, childlike, ethereal. Two-tone gradients are also growing increasingly popular.Metallic elementsNothing says luxe like a bit of gold! Or silver, or bronze, or rose gold. When added to regular photos or images, metallic elements add a certain pop that results in, at least, a beautiful image, or, at best, a stunning, jaw-dropping visual. The light-reflective metallic adds dimension to any image. This technique can be used in successful combination with most of the other techniques on this list to create a unique image.MinimalismThe adage less is more applies here. Though trends tend to favor fancy graphics, clever design tricks, and eye-popping colors, its rare that anything beats good, old-fashioned minimalism. This is especially useful with sales- advertisements, book covers, posters. Minimal designs get the message across quickly, with stark colors, clean lines, plenty of white space and a minimum of text. Clean, concise, and clear will always rise above complex graphics and loud colors.Movement/animationThere was a time when words werent enough to convey feelings- we needed emoticons. Then emoticons evolved into emojis. Then the advent of memes explode d, combining image and text for a variety of situations and moments. Then, the moving meme, or GIF, emerged. GIFs, or rather, the concept behind them, can lend itself in a fresh and innovative way to logos, branding, and other design concepts to be used on a variety of platforms like websites, social media, newsletters, and more. Check out this site on how to animate the Google logo.BrutalismIf the name of this design technique sounds imposing, its images are, too. Its basically exactly what it sounds like- bold, simple colors, straightforward typeface, low effects, in-your-face messaging. Its the antithesis to the artistry that automatically accompanies the phrase graphic design, but that doesnt mean its any less effect. Like minimalism, the less is more ideal applies here, too, and while a bit riskier than minimalism- some viewers and consumers may be turned off by the colors and typeface- its no less effective. Its been called the punk rock of the web, and it might just be the pu nk rock of graphic design, too.3D still lifesThe use of 3D has grown over the last few years, and designers are finding new and innovative ways to harness this effect. One such way also happens to be one of the coolest graphic design trends, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Textures, effects, and depth all contribute to incredible images that make the viewer think it had to be a photo taken in real life. The possibilities with this technique are endless, and can be used for a variety of concepts. It seems to work especially well with fashion and home dà ©cor/design. It can also make for a stunning visual piece for your apartment wall, too. Have a look at some awesome renditions here.Isometric projectionFor super-cool, futuristic effects, isometric projection is a technique quickly growing in popularity. It presents 3D objects in 2D, and when combined with gradient colors, bright colors, and different uses of filters and hue/saturation to create depth, the results are often bre athtaking. Used across photography, digital design, illustration, and more, the effect of the images can vary, but the results are the same- evocative and awesome to look at.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Case Study Analysis Child Care Centre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Case Study Analysis Child Care Centre - Essay Example With such complexities, the preparation of an appropriate and profit leveraging staff shift schedule ultimately became a critical concern for the new supervisor, M. In this regard, effective management roles require to be performed by the supervisor in order to mitigate the above stated issue or problem (Whetten, & Cameron, 201, pp. 113). It can thus be affirmed that the above stated issue of concern and the subsequent challenge or problem it imposes, might result in unfavorable impacts on the overall performance of the care centre in terms of delivering appropriate and quality services to every particular child. Question: 2 The employees in the child care centre can be observed to decipher strong reluctance in following the instructed working schedule, showing almost no concern towards organizational requirements. This particular aspect indicates towards the problem of limited cooperation between the employees and the management, wherein, even though the management, represented by t he supervisor in this case, is providing adequate concern to satisfy the employeesââ¬â¢ requirements at the highest possible extent. ... 115). Question: 3 There are several options available to the supervisor in the referred case, which can be used to resolve the immediate issue as identified in the previous sections. Contextually, the major three strategies that M can take to mitigate the issue have been suggested hereunder. Firstly, a probable reason for the reluctance deciphered by the employees can be identified to be the increasing situational work stress in the centre. It has been mentioned in the case that employees need to work for long hours on a continuous basis to meet the requirement of the centre on a 24x7 basis. Therefore, in order to minimize the work stress on the existing team members, M can emphasize recruiting a few more personnel, who will be able to work professionally and divide the work stress faced by the current staff members (Firth, Mellor, Moore & Loquet, 2004, pp. 178-179). Moreover, the supervisor can employ proactive strategy in this regard in terms of raising personal resiliency of the e mployees (Whetten, & Cameron, 2011, pp. 116). Secondly, as it can be apparently observed that the staff members lack motivation to work in cohesion and coordinate towards the satisfaction of the organizational goals, effective motivational techniques will be required to mitigate the issue. With this aim, M can implement measures allowing incentives to the employees who willingly abide by the defined working schedule along with putting stress upon their performance based appraisal. Also, M must notify the employees regarding their non-monetary losses, such as poor performance appraisal, owing to their non-abidance to the scheduled work plan. This shall prove fruitful in aligning the personal goals of the employees with that of the child care centre
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Huntly power station Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Huntly power station - Essay Example The government despite of knowing about all environmental disturbances is forced to tolerate as it does not have any alternative source of energy production. 6 Resource Management Act 6 Overview of Resource Consents 6 Aquatic Resource Consent owned by Huntly Power Plant 7 Environmental Effects of Aquatic Resource Consent 7 References 8 Glossary 9 Abstract The paper is written in order to discuss environmental costs and ramifications of operationalization of Huntly Power Plant. The featured power plant is working to provide electricity to majority of people living in the country of New Zealand and therefore, governmentââ¬â¢s hands are tied when it comes to regulation of the Power Plant. Additionally, all of the source consents owned by the plant are designed to delay the inevitable of global environmental destruction. The Huntly Power Plant: An Analysis of Environmental and Societal Costs Introduction The power generation business is one of the most important work-lines in the worl d. These facilities are primarily responsible for generating and supplying electric power to industrial and residential areas. But, these power plants are running on oil and therefore, their operational costs are increasing significantly on an annual basis. The environmental and societal costs associated with the operations of these power plants are also known to creep up with a close of each and every fiscal year (Hamilton & Manne 1978). However, the power plants do not work towards restoration of green environment and nor do they participate towards benefitting the society at large. They only focus on generation of power and maximization monetary returns. These facilities follow an avoidance strategy towards managerial ethics and therefore, hold on to the point that their purpose is to do the business and ethics and societal benefit is none of their concern (Logue, 1996). Additionally, governments feel reluctant towards imposition of increased taxation on private power plants beca use in this way, they risk escalating already increasing power prices. The major stakeholder in the business of power generation is the local government and due to this reason, the governmental offices have to make tradeoff between low energy prices and growing environmental concerns (Holtz, 2008). The economic mindset of the government forces it to choose lower energy prices over environmental concerns every time. The problem of global warming and increasing international temperatures has received a great level of attention lately and supporters of green living are of the view that alternative energy projects can save the planet. But, the industrialists think otherwise because switching the whole world economy from oil to alternative energy sources is a big deal and it requires major investments (Whitmarsh & Oââ¬â¢Neill, 2010). The alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy are predicted to produce less amount of energy than the traditional methods. The world econo mic system is not ready to use alternative energy sources because nobody trusts them right now. But, in a few years major oil producersââ¬â¢ output levels are going to decrease notably and this futuristic possibility may lead to more price related difficulties for electricity consumers. The oil producing companies are consuming more oil than their production levels and therefore, the level of oil available for domestic
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Benefits of Using Ms Office Essay Example for Free
Benefits of Using Ms Office Essay There are several benefits of using MS Office and not using MS Office or using an alternative. MS Office is the number one word processing software; the alternative word processing softwareââ¬â¢s usually generate their ideals, therefore being a fabrication of MS Office. Kingsoft Writer, an equivalent to Microsoft Word, Kingsoft Presentation, an equivalent to Microsoft PowerPoint, and Kingsoft Spreadsheets, an equivalent to Microsoft Excel, whereas Kingsoft does not offer a database software or any of the other softwareââ¬â¢s MS Office offers. Some disadvantages of Kingsoft Office are 1. Kingsoft Office 2009 works with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, and Windows 7 but not Macintosh computers and 2. If youââ¬â¢re a big fan of Microsoft Outlook, youââ¬â¢ll notice that Kingsoft Office includes no email and contact management software. MS office on the other hand provides you with a complete set of productivity and information management tools to accomplish routine tasks quickly, effectively manage customer and contact information in one place, produce professional-quality marketing communications and campaigns in-house, and simplify database creation and reporting. Microsoft Office provides the Live Preview feature of styles and formatting. That is, the content of the document temporarily applies formatting on the focused text or object when any formatting button is moused over. This allows users to view a preview of how the option would affect the appearance of the object, without actually applying it. The final layout effect is displayed by using the Live Preview feature. Hardware equipment requirement are high if using this feature. Currently, Kingsoft Office 2010 does not provide the Live Preview feature. Users need to select the specified style and apply it to view the final layout effects. Microsoft Office Excel is a powerful and widely used tool that helps people analyze information to make more informed decisions. Using Office Excel and Excel Services, you can share and manage your analysis and insight with coworkers, customers, and partners, Kingsoft is a viable alternative but is not as advanced as MS Office.
Friday, November 15, 2019
Chuck Berry and Teenage Culture in the 1950s Essay -- Biography Bio Mu
Chuck Berry and Teenage Culture in the 1950s Teenagers were a new species at the beginning of the 1950's. Before then, adolescents in America had traditionally gone to work to support their family or to start their own family as soon as they were old enough. However, the years of post-war prosperity and the expansion of suburbia provided teenagers (who were too young to remember the scarcities of the Depression and the war effort) with plenty of leisure time. At the same time, advances in technology made vinyl 45's cheap and easily accessible to both artists and listeners. White teenagers bought up pop hits coming off the Billboard 100, although many who were listening to black radio stations preferred rhythm and blues tunes which were always played by black performers. In fact rhythm and blues was pretty much used as a synonym for black music. Chuck Berry was one of the first black musicians to do well with a white audience. Because of his middle class background, his energetic performing style, and his youth-associated lyrics , Chuck Berry broke through the race barrier and became one of the first "rock stars." Berry became a representative of the teenage generation, even though he recorded his first single at the age of 29. His experience growing up, though he was almost 15 years older than many of his fans, was similar enough to the suburban experience that he could easily identify with the restless attitude of white middle class teens. Berry was "a city kid from St. Louis . . . not rooted in the rural past as were the country blues artists at Chess." (DeWitt, 140) The joys of fast cars, young love, and a rockin' beat that Berry prized as a teenager did not diminish with his age. Berry grew up around East St. Louis. Li... ...ve developed in the way it did, but without teenage fans, Chuck Berry might never have recorded a song. Bibliography Berry, Chuck. Chuck Berry: The Autobiography. New York: Harmony Books, 1987. Chapple, Steve and Rebecca Garofolo. Rock 'n' Roll is Here to Pay. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1977. Cohodas, Nadine. Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. DeWitt, Howard. Chuck Berry: Rock 'n' Roll Music. Freemont, CA: Horizon Books, 1981. Halberstam, David. The Fifties. New York: Villard Books, 1993. Hendler, Herb. Year by Year in the Rock Era. London: Greenwood Press, 1983. Reese, Krista. Chuck Berry: Mr. Rock and Roll. London: Proteus Books, 1982. Rudolph, Dietmar. A Collector's Guide to the Music of Chuck Berry: Lyrics. http://members.tripod.com/~buitendeboot/LYRICS.HTML. 2001.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships Essay
Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships. In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay. Firstly one must look at the division of domestic labour and conjugal roles. Conjugal roles refer to the roles performed by men and women in relation to housework, childcare and paid work. Traditionally men had the instrumental ââ¬Ëbread-winningââ¬â¢ role which the women had the expressive role (childcare and primary socialisation). Feminists say that the traditional division of labour is neither natural nor beneficial to women as their expressive role is unpaid and taken for granted. However different feminist views disagree on who benefits from this unpaid labour. Marxist feminists would argue it is capitalism that benefits most as wives keep their husbands happy and therefore they are left with a content workforce. On the other hand, radical feminists would argue that men are the main people to gain from womenââ¬â¢s oppression as we live in a patriarchal society. A functionalist view from Wilmott and Young says that there has been a ââ¬Ëmarch of progressââ¬â¢ in which the family has become more symmetrical with more joint conjugal roles (where both partners share the household labour). However feminists reject this view with Oakley arguing the family still remains patriarchal and Boulton saying the evidence to support the alleged rise in symmetry is weak, and that the responsibility for childcare still lies with women. Furthermore, Oakley describes how the housewife role has become dominant for women in a marriage since the industrialisation in the 19th century. Although women started off as part of the work force they were gradually excluded and confined to the home with housework and childcare responsibilities. This shows how the role of the housewife was socially constructed rather than being ââ¬Ënaturalââ¬â¢ as claimed by Parsons, and how it benefits both men and capitalism. Additionally, even though the 20th century saw a rise in the number of married women in paid labour, they remain in lower paid jobs and unable to climb the job ladder due the the ââ¬Ëglass ceilingââ¬â¢ (earning just 80% of a manââ¬â¢s wages in the same position). Silver and S chor stress the importance of two economic developments thatà reduce the burden of housework on women. The commercialisation of housework means that goods and services previously produced by women themselves are now mass-produced and supplied by shops, including freezers, microwaves, ââ¬Ëready mealsââ¬â¢ and so on, reducing the amount of domestic labour women have to do. Additionally, the increase in women working allows them the ability to afford these goods. Silver and Schor, as a result, argue the burden on housework has decreased. However critics argue that for poorer women it is not an option to buy these expensive goods and services. Feminists also argue that even if commercialisation has reduced the amount of housework needing to be done, it does not prove that couples share the remaining chores equally. A further argument from some sociologists is that rather than a ââ¬Ënew manââ¬â¢ who has an equal share of housework now more women are working, women have simply acquired a dual burden of both paid and unpaid work. With this view feminists say that the family remai ns patriarchal, with men benefiting from both womenââ¬â¢s earnings but also their domestic labour. Ferri and Smith provide evidence of womenââ¬â¢s dual burden, finding that the father taking main responsibility for childcare occurred in less than 4% of families from their sample. In addition to the dual burden, Duncombe and Marsden argue the case of the ââ¬Ëtriple shiftââ¬â¢ where women do the double shift of housework and paid work, but also take up emotion work (the management of oneââ¬â¢s own and otherââ¬â¢s emotions). As this essay has shown so far, there is inequality in who does what in the home but there is also inequality in decision-making; in deciding who gets what and how the family resources are shared out between them. Barrett and McIntosh note that mean usually make the most important decisions, the financial support from men is often unpredictable and they usually gain more from womenââ¬â¢s domestic labour than they give back in return. Feminist sociologists Pahl and Vogler suggest that because of menââ¬â¢s higher earnings women have more financial dependence on their husbands and this is why men take more control over major decisions. Edgell agrees with this view and states that women only exert some control on less important decisions such as home dà ©cor. Finch argues that wivesââ¬â¢ lives are generally structured around the husbandsââ¬â¢, such as if the husband had to move for work, the wives would pick up and go with them, whereas it is unlikely that the husband would follow their wife for work. Radical feminists also suggest that domestic violence is evidence of patriarchy asà men use the threat or use of violence to control women. Domestic violence is a widespread problem being a sixth of all violent crime in 2007 and the cause of over 100 deaths per year. Domestic violence is mainly perpetrated by men against women with 1 in 4 women being assaulted by their partners at some point in their lives a nd only 1 in 7 men being assaulted. However these figures may be under representative as many victims are unwilling to report these events as police investigators are unwilling to record and investigate many claims. Some feminists also say that domestic violence occurs due the dominant models of masculinity in society leading some men to use violence to assert authority when they are challenged. However, Giddens explains it through the ââ¬Ëemotional intensityââ¬â¢ of the family and Wilkinson says it is the product of stress created by social and economic inequalities (resulting in poverty, unemployment and poor housing). On the other hand these explanations do not explain why domestic violence also occurs in the middle and upper classes as well, despite the main victims being those in lower socio-economic groups. As shown in this essay, different feminist contributions to our understanding of the roles and relationships in the family have similarities. However those perspectives examined differ in ââ¬Ësolutionââ¬â¢ to the oppression of women in our society. While liberal feminists believe that changes in the law and attitudes of people will be enough to bring equality, Marxist and radical feminists believes revolutionary changes to deep-rooted social structures are needed. Marxist feminists also argue that the family must be abolished at the same time as socialist revolution replaces capitalism with a classless society. Radical feminists also believe that the family, the root of womenââ¬â¢s oppression, must be overturned; the difference being that they believe this can only be achieved through separatism ââ¬â women must organise themselves to live independently of men. After reviewing all the feminist theories I can say that feminist perspectives of the family have moved research away from the traditional functionalist view of male-dominated society. Feminist perspectives have highlighted the negative aspects of the fa mily which the functionalists have previously ignored, however all the different feminist views assume that the nuclear family is still the norm and ignores the increasing diversity of family life. Additionally, feminism is a structural theory meaning that they assume families and their members are merelyà puppets to be manipulated by society. Social action theorists and postmodernists reject this idea and argue that individuals have some choice in creating family relationship of our own and choosing our domestic set up for ourselves. In final conclusion, I believe the feminist perspectives to have helped move sociological ideas forward and take into account negative aspects of family life as well as the positives, yet at the same time they need to broaden their ideas to encompass the idea of individuals having choice to create their own family situation with diversity in families on the rise.
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